


The best part of Believe is the Lie

by Charlie_Bb



Series: Of mating and other disasters [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-06
Updated: 2013-07-06
Packaged: 2017-12-17 21:48:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/872305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlie_Bb/pseuds/Charlie_Bb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was in a rainy day that Laura found her mate.<br/>She was such a sweet little thing, with tiny little hands and big blue eyes, and Laura loved her at first sight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The best part of Believe is the Lie

It was in a rainy day that Laura found her mate.

She was such a sweet little thing, with tiny little hands and big blue eyes, and Laura loved her at first sight. Her name was Emma, and she was the most beautiful thing Laura had never seen. Her hair was as red as the burning fire and her skin was as pale as the moon, and Laura loved the little freckles on her nose and cheeks. Laura loved her voice, calm and delicate, a melody singing into her ears, as soft as fresh wind. 

Emma was beautiful and gentle, and Laura loved her so very much.

It was summer when they first met. The sky was slightly grey and summer winds were blowing; Laura was at the edge of the woods, just in sight of the road, so near she could hear the noises and watch cars passing by, yet so far she could hide from sight, sitting in her favorite spot on a cold rock right behind a tree. 

It was summer and rain started to fall.

It rose from the earth the penetrate intense scent of dried soil kissed by the rain, and Laura breathed deeply with a soft smile on her face. She loved that smell, it felt like freedom. 

And then a big scary dog ran towards her, barking loudly. Everyone else would’ve ran, but not Laura. She was not everyone else and the wolf was part of her, born with her and alive deep inside her bones, and no dog could ever scared her. The dog stopped before Laura, ears straightened up and grinning teeth, but when Laura looked into his eyes the dog whined putting his black head down as a sign of respect. 

When Emma found them few minutes later Laura was caressing the big dog’s head and he was happily wagging his tail in return.

«I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry! He ran away, actually broke the leash, and he was so scared I was afraid he could bite someone.»

«It’s okay», Laura smiled at her terrified face. «No big deal, I found him. He’s okay now.»

The very moment Emma smiled Laura felt like the ground was crashing down beneath her feet; the wolf inside of her howled loudly and she knew, she just knew.

«Come on buddy, let’s go.» Laura stood up and the dog followed. «Time for you to go home.»

«Gosh, you scared the hell out of me, Brutus. Don’t do that, never again.»

The dog licked his mom’s hand, cuddling her to make the fear go away and Laura smiled at that. 

«Thank you, thank you so much. I’m Emma, anyway, and this big bad boy is-»

«Brutus, yeah. I’m Laura. And you look like you could really use a cup of tea. Or coffee, don’t know if you’re the tea-type.»

«I guess you’re right, I must look awful», Emma giggled and Laura’s heart jumped. «I’m still a bit shaken.»

None of them cared of the pouring rain as they reached the road where Emma’s car was parked, they didn’t care about being all soaked as they jumped in the vehicle, and Emma started the engine. Brutus sat quiet in the back seat, sniffing the air around and whining softly every once in a while. 

Laura felt it too, a dark intense smell slowly rising all around them. A storm was coming.

But it was summer and they were young, and life felt so good in the rain.

*

Laura remembers that first cup of tea together with Emma, it’s stapled like a picture in her mind. They stopped by this old little diner on the road run by a lady so old Laura had always thought she was something like an highlander. Derek used to say the lady was a witch instead, but it was just a story he told Laura to scare the hell out of her. Derek was a terrible elder brother, this kind of grumpy teenager filled up with sarcasm, but Laura loved him to the stars and back. He taught her how to control the wolf together with their mom and dad, he was a guide to her whenever she needed one. The proverbial candle to light her to bed.

Laura found out the old lady was no witch as soon as she learned how to trust the wolf’s instinct and from that moment on Derek’s story scared her no more. Ha.

The rain was falling stronger and harder against the diner’s windows but neither Laura or Emma seemed to care. Brutus was lying quietly underneath the table, eyes gazing from his mom to the new wolfy stranger he’s just met and wailed in joy whenever one of the two fed him with some cookies or pie. 

Laura stared at Emma the whole time, listening to her as if there was nothing more important than that in the world and smiling stupidly at her jokes. 

Emma was this amazing, super-intelligent teenager and it took Laura a split of a second to understand why her in the whole world, her among all the others. Emma was sixteen already, only few months older than Laura, and attended Beacon Hills High School as everybody else in town but Laura never noticed her in class, shame on herself. Emma never noticed Laura either, she said, but was glad they met because Laura seemed such a nice girl and Emma looked like she needed some nice people around. 

Emma was brilliant and funny, and moved like a little fairytale princess, so nice and well-mannered, girlish in the best of the ways. 

They talked about school, professors and classmates, about their friends and families, and Laura felt her heart ache when she couldn’t mention, well, the wolfing-out part. It just felt right for Emma to know and Laura hated to keep it a secret, hated to keep a secret from her, it wasn’t fair at all. 

Emma knew Laura’s family house, she saw it once while jogging in the woods and has been totally fascinated by it ever since.

Laura couldn’t look away as she talked, so charmed by the way Emma’s lips were moving or opening in the most lovely smile Laura had ever seen. She just couldn’t look away, not when Emma’s hands were flying in the air as she spoke, not when her eyes were shining so bright and blood was running to her cheeks colouring the skin red as fine strawberries. Laura found herself spellbound and speechless, her breath taken away and heart beating faster every second more and, gosh, it felt so good wasting time with Emma she could do it forever and always and even more.

It wasn’t until late, when the sky was dark and thunders roared all around, that they got out of the diner and Emma lifted Laura to her place. The atmosphere changed all of a sudden from cheerful to this shade of awkwardness and Emma looked everywhere but at Laura, as if she was afraid of something. As if she was afraid that moment was their very end.

Laura sensed it, a bitter taste on the back of her tongue, the bitter fear to lose someone, somebody else and no, that wasn’t going to happen, no way in hell. Laura would stay for Emma, wanted to stay, wanted to be there every single moment of her life because Emma was the one, and they had all the time in the world to be together and Laura wasn’t going to miss it.

«I’ll see you tomorrow at school.» Laura smiled and gently touched Emma’s shoulder reassuring her inner and deep fears about to take over her. «I’ll wait for you in the hall.»

«Lovely.» Emma skimmed over Laura’s fingers and nodded, a shy smile rising on her perfect lips. «I’ll see you tomorrow. Brutus, say goodbye to Laura.»

Brutus did exactly as he was told and barked with enthusiasm, licking Laura’s hand and making her laugh loudly. Laura turned to Emma and kissed her goodbye, as near to her lips as she could, and Emma didn’t back off. The wolf inside of her howled his victorious goal as Laura got off the car and walked home, head over hills and Emma’s scent stuck deep inside her heart. 

*

When your family is almost solely made up of werewolves is damn hard to hide things from them and even if Laura tried her best to keep Emma as a secret, well, they noticed immediately. Derek noticed, to be precise, and since Derek was a dumbass he did everything to make Laura uncomfortable. Her mom and dad noticed too, as the rest of their freaking family, and Laura’s pretty sure it was because of her smell. A werewolf smells different when finds his mate. 

No one said anything, anyway, they just gave her sidelong looks and giggled when they thought she couldn’t hear them. 

Derek, on the other hand, was a completely different matter. He made every stupid joke in the world, the bastard, and mocked her for the rest of the evening, trying to drive her mad and succeeding. There was nothing to hide, and trying to keep Emma secret was the worst thing to do because Derek could go on like that for ages and, uh, no thanks. So Laura entered the living room after dinner, everybody’s eyes fixed on her; she took a deep breath as her heart raced faster and hell, there was no other way to do it so the sooner the better.

«I found my mate. So stop giggling and mocking me or I’ll tear your ugly faces off with my teeth and believe me, you wouldn’t like it.»

And she walked away from the room and from her stupid family, away from her stupid brother. So they knew and that was it; she needed to be alone and the attic room seemed like the perfect place to hide for what she supposed was going to be the longest night of her entire life. 

Laura slammed the door shut and reached her favorite corner of the room, right under the window, and the room was dark but the moon outside lighted it up a bit and it was perfect. It was silent, the attic, and Laura loved silence, always loved it. Voices from downstairs couldn’t reach her up there and the only noise was the course of her screaming thoughts inside her head. 

She found her mate. Emma smiled and bam!, Laura felt it, no way she was mistaken. So what now? What was she going to do? What was she going to say? Emma didn’t know anything about werewolves thank god and so what, should Laura tell her? How can you just tell someone she’s your fucking mate? You can’t, that’s it. You can’t, there’s nothing you can do or maybe you could try and god knows how it’d end up. Laura felt like she was going to freak the hell out, it was just too much to handle and how was she supposed to deal with the thing? She was scared as hell, that’s the truth. 

For she was ready, she felt it in her bones, she felt it in the wolf heart and in her own, all of her life was meant to lead her there to that very moment, to Emma’s amazing blue eyes, to her bright smile and that awareness was strong and unexpected. Now Laura felt like she had a purpose, the only important thing in her life and the wolf growled its amen to that. 

*

«Does she know…?»

«She doesn’t.» Laura scowled at her mother, not happy with her presence in the attic room. «I’ve just met her, I can’t just go and say “Hey, you’re my mate!”, can I?»

«I guess you can’t», her mother giggled and sat down on the floor right next to her, earning herself a very sincere nasty look. «But there’s something you can do.»

Laura was really, really trying to go back to her blessed solitude but her mother begged to differ and there was nothing in the known world capable of distracting Laura’s mom from what she wanted to achieve. Laura sighed when she asked «What is that?», and thought that banging her head against the wall wasn’t a valid option. 

«Invite her home» said her mother and Laura dared at her, eyes burning yellow against her will. «Just for tea! Or dinner, if you like. Dinner would be nice.»

«Baby steps, mom.»

«Then tea. Tea is a perfect baby step, don’t you think?»

Laura moved, her back stroking against the wall, uncomfortable. Inviting Emma for a cup of tea? Inviting her home, with all her family, with Derek babbling stupid jokes to make both of them uncomfortable? That definitely didn’t sound like an option. 

«Come on, Laura-bee», her mother smiled softly at her, caressing her hair with soft, warm fingertips. «I’m looking forward to meet her, my little girl’s mate.»

Laura had no intention to continue that conversation, not at all. But deep inside she felt that talking to her – stupid, meddler and sometimes fastidious – mom was kinda helping her with the whole thing. 

«What’s she like?»

And that, that was the question Laura had feared the most. Not only her mother wanted to meet Emma, she wanted to be prepared for the encounter. 

Laura sighed, there was no way she could’ve pulled herself out of that awkward conversation, and stared at the moon rising over the window. 

«She is… perfect. Really.» Laura didn’t looked at her mom and kept her eyes focused on the night sky instead. «Soft, shining hair and eyes so blue the ocean itself cannot compare. And she has freckles all over her nose and cheecks, and they’re adorable. And a lovely voice, too. She’s… brilliant, and intelligent, and funny; she’s one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met and she reads tons of books, and can talk pretty much about everything. Oh, and she loves animals and has this big black dog, Brutus, who’s as amazing as Emma.»

Laura took a deep breath after that silly stream of unwanted words and looked shyly at her mom. She didn’t mean to talk that much, to reveal that much about Emma. It was just… she couldn’t help it, talking about that fantastic human being that Emma was just made her heart jump in her chest, and it was a freaking fantastic feeling. 

«That’s a lot of amazingness», her mother laughed and hugged her briefly. «How did you know it was her?»

«I just knew it.» Laura let that hug warm her up inside and her mind went back to the very first moment she saw Emma standing right in front of her. She smiled in her mother’s arms. «The very second she smiled at me I could feel it, some warmth building up inside my chest and my heart was out of control and the wolf, oh, mom, the wolf howled and howled so loudly I was afraid Emma could hear it too.»

«Love at first sight.»

Laura let those four words free to mess with her head. They ran, and shaped, and broke and ran again while her mind was trying to catch them and put them together. Love at first sight. Was that even real? She never believed in such a thing, yet it felt so likely when she thought of Emma. 

«Did you feel the same?», she asked. «With dad, I mean.»

«Oh, my dear.» Laura watched her mother’s lips pushing slowly against her forehead and watched her stand up with a soft smile on her face. «Your father and I have followed a different pattern, we have a different history. I don’t think it was love at first sight, or maybe it was and I was so dumb I couldn’t see it.»

Laura watched her every move while she went to the window and let her dark blu eyes stare on the woods outside. The moonlight softly caressed her pale skin making her look like an ethereal and fragile thing. 

«What happened?», Laura asked so damn curious about that past she knew nothing about. She never asked to know, she probably never cared, but her mother’s voice was so low and made it sound so interesting she couldn’t help but demand the details of that dusty old story. 

«Well, I kinda hated him at first», her mother giggled, long black hair shining bright in the moonlight. «I didn’t hate him for real, of course, but I had no idea back then. Your father made me angry every single time we were in the same room, he drove me mad all the time. He said “yes”, I yelled “NO”; he cried “black” and I screamed “white”. It was a bit of an endless fight. Sometimes I couldn’t stand the sight of him.»

Laura couldn’t help but laughed. «That’s a mess of a mating.»

«It was, a terrible mess!» Her mother left her spot on the window and sat back on the floor, right in front of her. «We fought all the time, always yelling at each other for the stupidest reasons. Until one day it all changed.»

«How?», Laura asked with a shade of curiosity itching the tip of her tongue. She could feel a distant sadness given off her mother’s skin, a nasty taste spreading in her own mouth unpleasantly. 

And when her mother said «I almost lost him» Laura felt her heart aching for a single, infinite moment made of the purest pain. 

«There was a rogue in town», she said and Laura frowned. She’d never met a rogue in her entire life and the only thought of it made her shiver to the bone. «We were all looking for him. Your father, his family, my pack. People were dying, new bodies showed up every day. We were in the woods when it happened. Your father, your stupid dumb father wanted to go out and look for the wolf on his own. I told him we all had to do it together, that our strength came from the pack. He didn’t listen, of course, because he was stubborn and you’re almost as stubborn as he still is, if you ask me. He was ready to explore the woods on his own when the rogue attacked us, all of a sudden; I shifted, and so did your father. The rogue went down on me, all grinding teeth and electric blue eyes.»

«An omega», Laura whispered, her mother’s memory sliding down on her like cold water infiltrating her warm skin. 

«And Rick, he attacked the wolf on his back, bit him hard and the rogue howled in pain, turning right on your father.» Laura saw her eyes darken when the memory became too intense to handle even after all those years. «I was badly injured as they started to fight for their lives. It was horrible, the snarls echoing through the woods and the sound of claws cutting through hair and flesh. Your dad killed the omega eventually, but ended up laying down on the ground covered in terrible wounds and blood. I think my heart stopped beating when I saw him there, pale, whining. I shifted back and that, I think, was the moment I found out he was my everything, my sun and stars, my sparkle of life.»

Laura frowned again, the air now so cold it almost hurt. 

She felt her heart ache in pain, the only thought of losing the mate so hurtful she could barely stand it. It felt like there was no more air to breathe, like the world could come crashing down all around her and her mother, my god, her mother had felt that on her skin in a faraway past and Laura wondered how she could have been so strong to deal with it. 

«Things look pretty different if you ask him, anyway.»

Her mother reached out her hand and Laura took it, deeply touched from that sad, unbelievable story. 

«How so?»

«Perspective», said her mother hugging her hard and dragging her along the stairs. «He just felt it in a different way.»

«Like what?»

«This is not my story to tell», she smiled. «Ask your dad. And now it’s time to go to bed, young lady. You’re so going to school tomorrow.»

«I never asked to stay home.»

*

Derek was an asshole of the grandest kind, made stupid jokes and mocked her to death right before bedtime. He pushed her in their shared bedroom and kept howling like the idiot he was, and Laura felt like she hated him. A bit. 

Truth was she knew him better than that, and she knew very well that behind the curtain of critic acid and bitterness Derek was simply happy for her. He just didn’t show. 

Laura had always thought Derek was going to find his mate first; he was older and beside that, well, it just seemed right that way. Derek deserved someone by his side more than anyone else, and his mate could help him with that stupid temper of his. Could help him being better, as a wolf and as a human.

Dad always told her a mate was like a part of their soul taken away from them at birth, a part the wolf needed to find so it could be finally complete.

So thinking about it, Derek’s mate was going to be someone nice and a bit more funny or openhearted maybe, in order to balance her brother’s silences and temper.   
Laura’s mate had to be someone nice too, for she was a bit of an asshole herself sometimes. Kind of a family trait. 

Emma was nice. As gentle as Laura was kinda rough, her voice so low and peaceful when Laura’s was loud. Emma was calm and Laura snapped pretty often. Emma could be the balance of Laura’s world and hell yes, she was totally going to be. An anchor to keep her safe and sound to the solid ground.

And the wolf needed her like air to breathe. Just few hours after that first afternoon together Laura already felt like she was missing an important part she desperately needed. Laura felt like she couldn’t breathe anymore and Emma was the only one who could help her out. She couldn’t even stand the thought of Emma being somewhere else with someone else, god, it was awful. She needed Emma to be there, the wolf needed Emma to be there, and hours seemed to pass so slowly it was frustrating and Laura should’ve stopped looking at the clock on the wall every five seconds.

Next morning was better. Laura opened her eyes and immediately jumped off the bed, awake and excited in expectation. She showered fast and barely ate her breakfast, totally ignoring Derek’s babblings and fake howls and god, why was mom wasting time around when she had to go to school? Lisa was crying that morning and didn’t seem like she was going to stop; Lucas was looking for his teddy bear and asked their mother for help, and Cora was yelling she couldn’t find her shirt and damn, the world hated Laura so much for her brothers and sisters were driving her mad the one morning she needed to be calm and quiet. And early, for fuck’ sake.

«Mom!», she cried out several minutes later, rage building up inside of her. «I have to go to school. Now.»

«Thank god your period is going to be same time as the full moon this month.» Derek grinned, his keys tingling in his hands. «I’ll give you a ride, I really look forward to meet this mate of yours. Plus, it’s pretty late already.»

«I hate you so much.»

«I hate you too, sis.»

Derek told their mom they were going out, kids screaming in the usual morning chaos. Laura jumped in the car and fastened her seatbelt quickly, heart beating fast and loud. Derek took his time –well, few seconds actually, but it seemed like an eternity – and eventually started the engine, the Camaro softly roaring underneath them.

«So, what’s she like?»

«You’re about to find out yourself.»

«So nice, Laura, you’re such a piece of cake my teeth hurt.»

Laura grinned and Derek grinned back, eyes on the road ahead, the smile fixed on his lips while his expression changed into seriousness and Laura sighed, waiting for the question to come out.

«What’s it like?»

«It’s a weird feeling», she said, and it was true. «It’s something you don’t know, anything you’ve ever experienced, still it’s something so familiar it seems like you’ve been sensing it for your whole life.»

Derek nodded absently, gazing at her.

«It’s like running in the wild woods, you never know what you could find round the next tree but still the wolf howls loudly and it’s like you’re overwhelmed with freedom and power, you feel like you could do everything. It’s like fireworks on the fourth of july, sparkly and bright and amazing. It’s like scoring the winning goal just a second before the match’s over.»

«It sound terrific», Derek let out a laugh driving the Camaro straight into the paved road. «And amazing.»

«It is. Amazing. And terrifying. I have no idea what to do or how to deal with it, Derek, and it freaking scares the hell out of me. What if she doesn’t like me? What if she turns me down? What would the wolf do then? God, my head’s exploding.»

«One step at the time, candywolf.» Derek smiled softly and rubbed her hair. «No one knows what to do when the wolf choses its mate, but it’s something you’ll learn to deal with. Think about mom and dad. They almost tore each other’s throat off but they made it anyway.»

«Not such a comforting thought, sourwolf», Laura sighed in despair. «But thanks.»

«Yeah.»

*

Laura could’ve never imagined Emma was going to become her best friend in the world. 

She just couldn’t believe how easy it was for them to talk, to spend days after days in each other’s company forgetting the world outside. 

But it was. Easy. It was the easiest thing on earth. 

And Emma, oh, Emma was something so beautiful and special Laura felt damn lucky to have her by her side. Emma was the funniest girl, the more beautiful, the one everybody would’ve wanted if they had known how spectacular she was. 

It wasn’t like Laura was trying to keep her hidden from the world like the biggest secret, they only loved having time to spend between themselves with nobody else around. 

Emma loved her family, too, since the very first afternoon Laura had invited her home for a tea and intense hours of study. Emma was so kind, and so polite, and so incredibly nice that every single Hale fell in love with her immediately. 

The kids loved her to the stars, dragged her around forcing her to play cowboys and Indians – or, well, their own version of the game, Werewolves and Hunters – ‘til they collapsed exhausted on the couch. Emma proved to be a great werewolf and no one of the little hunter kids felt like killing her, so she simply won the battle and the war. 

Laura saw her parents smiling right at Emma, asking her things about her life, family and all that stupid stuff grown-ups are always interested in. Emma had replied frankly gifting them with her innocent smile and when Derek entered the kitchen and looked at her like the sourwolf he was she didn’t even blink but said hello like the nicest of girls. 

Laura loved her, and her love grew stronger everyday more and when she first kissed her lips in a lazy spring afternoon Emma didn’t pull back and Laura’s heart jumped in a joy so great and devastating it almost hurt. 

Being together felt natural, and special, and neither of them cared too much whether it was good or wrong when their kisses became far more intimate. 

*

«I want to tell her», Laura whispered in the dark of her room. «I want to tell her everything.»

She could feel Derek rolling over in his bed not so far from her, she could feel him sighing lowly. Damn, she could almost feel every single thought in his head, from the simplest “she’s human” to the far more complex “how could you tell a human about us without freaking them out?”. 

«Laura-», he started but she wasn’t going to listen to those excuses.

«I know, okay?», Laura said looking at his figure in the dark. «I know it won’t be easy. I know she won’t probably believe me, or she will most likely freak out and run away. But I have to tell her, Derek, I need to tell her. I need her to know who I really am.»

Derek stared at the ceiling, quiet and silent. Of course he got it, it wasn’t so hard to understand why Laura wanted her mate to know. At the same time, thou, it was so damn dangerous they could all end badly. 

«Don’t you want to tell Kate?», Laura asked hoping to find a nerve she could move to make him empathize with the entire situation. 

She didn’t know, back then, that Derek was definitely in love with Kate but she was far from being his mate. 

Derek didn’t tell her that night, nor he told her later in their lives. Laura simply believed Kate was his mate, and he was going to let her believe what she wanted even if he was damn sure that deep down she just knew. 

«I know it’s not long you're dating her and everything, but wouldn’t it be nice if she knew? Wouldn’t it be nice to be yourself with her?»

Derek didn’t answered. He let the silence fill the atmosphere and the room itself, her words fluttering above them as a heavy weight, and Laura held on to the rightful says according to which a silence could be read as a big, shining “yes”. 

*

Laura planned everything in every tiniest detail. 

She was going to tell Emma about her family, and she was going to do it soon. Right after the party her mother would organize for her sixteenth birthday. 

Laura said the words in her head a thousand times, pictured every possible scenario, every possible reaction Emma could come out with, and she decided not to think about the worsts her mind was kindly offering her. 

Emma loved her, for fuck’ sake, and given enough time she would’ve accepted her completely. Laura would’ve shown her how the wolf was not going to affect their life together and Emma would be convinced, she would’ve nodded and Laura would’ve kissed her slowly stating the crossing of a big, scary new step in their relationship. 

Oh, she would’ve told her family about Emma being her girlfriend, too. 

*

It was a warm, sunny day and May was sliding away ready to make room to his sister June. 

Laura remembers it well, the sunlight reflecting above the trees drawing weird, funny shadows on the ground. She remembers how warm it felt outside in the schoolyard where the other school kids were playing lacrosse right in front of her closed eyes; she remembers the screams, the coach guiding his students, spurring them to show their best. 

Derek was sitting right next to her with his usual annoyed expression, his lips straightened in a hard line looking as bored as he could ever looked. 

Laura had poked him not so gently and he had almost snarled. She had laughed. 

Derek had said something about ripping her arm out, Laura doesn’t remember his words so well, and she’s sure she had replied with another poke harder than the previous.   
She remembers mocking him because of Kate, because she was older than him and looked like a fucked up girl – but Laura had always talked about Kate that way, she wasn’t exactly what you call a delicate woman – and Derek had breathed in slowly as to force himself to calm down. 

The sun was shining on the field and players, there was a nice fresh wind blowing from west and summer was on its way. 

In that moment the Principal himself had come looking for Laura and Derek both, and in her heart she felt something terrible had happened. 

*

Laura tried to call Emma the very second she jumped on Derek’s Camaro, but the phone rang bringing her no answer. Emma was home, that day, sick with flu, but there was something the wolf could smell, something that made him howl and growl in Laura’s chest while her heartbeat increased. 

She and Derek had managed to get rid of the police officers that had broken them the news. They had to go back home, they had to see by their own eyes that it was just a sort of stupid, bad taste joke and that no, their family house was still there, standing in the woods like a fierce wooden giant. Their family was still there, they had to be. 

Emma never answered her phone, nor she called her back. 

Laura felt her heart breaking in two miles and miles before Derek reached their house, and somehow she knew, she just knew. 

*

The last flames were still dancing on the roof, playing joyfully with the wooden beams, and a horrific smell of burnt and ashes flooded the air. 

Laura felt the scream in her ears, saw with the eyes of the wolf all those hands reaching across the small basement window asking for help; she felt the devastating pain growing while the oxygen started to fade, the agonizing fear covering all her family members while the adults were trying to help the kids breathing. 

Lisa’s screams were unbearable, her tiny little hands grabbing their mother clothes, her eyes wide open while gasping for air. 

Lucas was one of the few lucky ones who just fell asleep and chocked with the black smoke without even knowing. 

Cora hugged their dad so hard she hurt him, but nothing mattered anymore. 

In less than one hour they were all gone, their ashes carried away from that soft summer wind right to the blue blue sky above. 

The pain was so much she couldn’t stand it. Derek couldn’t stand it. Laura cried, and screamed, and yelled kicking like a bitch when Derek hugged her trying to keep her still. 

Emma’s perfume was all over, all around her together with her mother’s. Emma’s eyes were wide open with terror when the flames got to the basement where everyone was settling the room for Laura’s birthday party. 

Emma hadn’t been so lucky to choke. She hadn’t been strong enough to help Laura’s father and uncles try to break the stupid door open, she had only been lucid enough to teach Lisa how to breathe through her shirt and hugged her tight while the flames were taking over everything. 

Laura died that day too, along with her family and with the gentlest girl she’d ever met. She died in front of the remains of that big, scary house, her body senseless upon the fallen trees that paved the ground around the building. 

Derek died too, he just didn’t show. He didn’t cry, didn’t scream. He just stood tall, wrapped in silence and an agony so deep it would never go away. 

*

Laura never fell in love again. 

She never stopped thinking about Emma, not even years later; she never stopped thinking about how much she wanted her to know about her “family trait”, about her true self for Emma was and would’ve always been the one, Laura could feel it in her bones.

And she never believed in anything anymore, especially not in love, for the only time she had believed her world had crashed apart, burnt down in an endless instant she lived every night in those nightmares who hunt her down again and again. 

Laura Hale had just burned, that warm sunny day, and her ashes had floated in the sky together with Emma’s and all her family’s. 

*

Derek never talks about what happened. He never talks at all. 

When Laura leaves him in a grimy flat in Queens, New York, he doesn’t stop her. He doesn’t ask her to stay and smells horrible, like guilt and shame and she can’t stand it anymore. 

One day she’ll find out what truly happened – not even Beacon Hills Police Department believes that the fire was an accident, they can’t expect her to sit tight on her hands and wait for them to catch the killers – and will avenge the memory of everyone she lost, and maybe Derek will stop blaming himself for something he has no guilt for. 

Her inner wolf howls loudly, the picture of soft blue eyes shining bright on her mind, as she holds in her hands the weird printed page she found on the internet showing a dead deer with a spiral drawn on his cold body and when she jumps on the bus that’ll take her back home something in the air smells like rotten and death.

**Author's Note:**

> First things first: the ff title comes from Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year, a Fall Out Boy song.   
> Then. Un-beta'd, as always, so forgive me if you find - small or big - mistakes in the writing. Feel free to help me notice 'em, it'll help me for future works ;)  
> Also, I have no idea where this thing came from. I was just thinking about "our" pack, about Stiles being Derek's mate, and all of a sudden I thought of Laura. I saw Emma's face and I knew she would've been the one.   
> Hope you like it, it took me months to let this thing out of my head.   
> C ya! ;)  
> Charlie


End file.
